Best areas for single mom with kids. One son with autism (Wichita: for sale, rentals)

[kagona]

I may be moving to Wichita in the very near future, and I have a 5 year old son with autism and a 4 year old son who will need a gifted program. I am newly widowed, and have an opportunity for a great new job and a fresh start. I will be working full time, and am looking for a safe friendly neighborhood with homes for sale in the $250K-$350K range. I am very concerned about the best school district for my children, but I am also open to excellent private school recommendations.

I have heard good/mixed things about Andover, Derby, and Goddard. I would prefer a less than twenty minute commute, and I will be working downtown.
Ideally I would like a family friendly neighborhood that is safe, has great schools, or access to great private schools, lots of recreational opportunities, close to a community Christian Church, and some family restaurants nearby.

Any suggestions?
Thank you!!!

[KS101]

I would recommend Andover schools. But there are benefits to using the Wichita public schools if you have special needs child so you could easily choose to be on West side of Andover when you buy & you will have access to Wichita schools.

I highly recommend you rent first as some of the business situations here are turning out to be temporary jobs for professionals too often and sometimes a women alone gets pressured badly at work and socially. Situation here in Wichita is not desirable here to some women who had nothing to show for tolerating the crap in Wichita & courts you cannot use easily to remedy any of the mistreatments, bad business deals, unwanted males and worse...Many women who remained alone moved on from Wichita recently due to bad business scams, too many temporary jobs and hostile work situations pretty common OVER AND OVER plus lots of unwanted male attention from middle class males who play you like a predator. Some of the social causes are getting people in trouble so I would not plan to socialize with cause people or social groups until you know people, while some of the professional groups are not bullying some people out. There is also nice list on [domain blocked due to spam].com for Wichita that lists the churches whose members are a problem for people so you don't end up in bad church situation that causes problems ...

(You will want a building with a basement too as SE side of Wichita is prone to tornadoes.)

I think KC might suit you better if you choose Olathe or Lees Summit schools. Job security is much better than Wichita and professional employee base is much better in KC area. Stay away from the poorer areas or run down like Leavenworth as roving groups of teens/20s are allowed to harass the adults for long while & can be unsafe after a while. Hate adults treated to initiation crap in poor areas but KC does serve this up to Leavenworth military people too so a lot of rentals in Leavenworth sit empty & more drug dealers moved in....Most of the run-down areas of KC are allowed to rot and sold to wealthy for bar districts so high recommend you remain in Southern suburbs or Missouri. Suburban areas of KC are nicer professional environment for women with less harassment, relationship pressure and hostile work environment.

I would hang onto the emergency fund & rent for a while if you have to stay in Wichita for a while. If you stay in Wichita Public schools as kids get older, you may want to move to take advantage of Northwest High School which has the least problems due to gangs, drugs, abusers. SouthEast Wichita High school may not be desirable to you as your kids get older so would recommend Kaupan Mount Carmel Catholic High school or Andover High Schools as the kids get older as less gangs/bullying is allowed & much better academics than stress.

Wichita State U is nice school but parking is not great for locals any longer. Butler County College is going through some problems with curriculum quality and poor staffing. If you wish to take classes at either, I highly recommend you pay cash for a couple classes in person to see if the department you want to use meets your expectations so you don't have to pay back student loans immediately if classes disappoint...

[elkotronics]

Is Boeing Wichita still a going concern? Now that I'm away from Boeing (I worked at Boeing's Everett Division for 20 years) I don't hear anything about Boeing's military division in Wichita. No massive layoffs like in the Puget Sound?

[KS101]

Boeing pulled out of Wichita in 2012, sent people to Okla City or Washington. About 150 related jobs left McConnel AFB too.

Other companies like Spirit took over some of Boeing's buildings.

[elkotronics]

That explains it! Thanks for the update, KS101.